


Under the Full Moon

by tustin2121



Series: Tustin2121's Pride Tales Anthology [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Animal Transformation, Boyfriends, Implied/Referenced Sex, M/M, Relationship Discussions, Slice of Life, Werewolves, therianthropy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-17 04:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28968408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tustin2121/pseuds/tustin2121
Summary: Andrew has been dating John for eight months now, and Andrew's sister thinks its well past time for Andrew to tell John he can transform into a fox at will. But then John calls off his own birthday celebrations, and she has a crazy theory as to why. Andrew isn't convinced; after all, werewolves don't exist, do they?
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Series: Tustin2121's Pride Tales Anthology [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2105298
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	1. Waxing

"Look, I just want everything to be nice and tidy."

"Your date is not gonna care if the tops of the cabinets are clean, Andrew!"

"He's not 'my date', Jess. He's my _boyfriend_."

"Oh, you've upgraded, have you?" Jessica said sassily as she put another plate in the dishwasher, "He's still not gonna care."

"I can see how dusty they are from here, and he's taller than me! He's six-two!"

"I've got two inches on you in these heels, Andrew, and I _can not_ see the tops of the cabinets."

Andrew, in frustration, swept a hand through his red hair. "All I'm asking for is a boost up! You don't want to get dirty, fine, I can--"

"Andrew," Jess glared, pausing with a dirty fork in her hand, "Why can't you just get a freaking extendable feather duster like a normal human? Go on Amazon, I'm sure they sell them cheap!"

"We're not 'normal humans', Jess," Andrew retorted dryly.

"You are a normal-enough human right now, and cleaning the cabinet tops is not a valid excuse to transform!" she snapped back, "We live in the city. Wild animals don't have a place here. I haven't had a reason to transform in months!"

Andrew crossed his arms in a huff. "There's plenty of wild animals in the city," he mumbled.

Jess poked the fork in his direction, "Just because you've come up with ridiculous excuses to--"

"I like my fox form!" Andrew pleaded, his hands up to guard against the fork, "I don't know why you don't..."

"It's inconvenient, and entirely unnecessary in human society."

"That's never stopped me before..."

"Yes, I know! That's the problem..." Jess said, sighing in exasperation. She put the fork in the dishwasher finally, and stood up to see him giving her a pouty face. "Fine, whatever, just don't get my dress dirty. I don't have time to change before I need to leave for _my own_ date."

Andrew grinned. In the next moment, a fox was standing where he had been, shaking itself out of the clothes that he had been wearing.

"I mean, really," Jess continued in an annoyed tone as she bent down to pick up the fox, "How is this in any way convenient?" She hefted him upwards and allowed him to find purchase on the kitchen cabinets overhead.

She then stepped out of the way, crossing her arms, as the fox began using its tail as a feather duster, sweeping the dust off the cabinets. The fox sneezed as the dust went everywhere. After a few minutes, the fox, patchy with dust bunnies, looked expectantly down at Jess again.

"No no," she tutted, "I'm not getting anywhere near your mangey ass."

The fox made a noise, teeth bared, like he was rebutting her words.

"I told you, I'm not getting my dress dirty. Find your own way down." She folded her arms resolutely.

The fox grumbled, rolling his eyes, before looking around for a path to the floor. He moved over to near the wall and gingerly hopped down onto the stove, his paws landing between the gas burners, and quickly hopped from there to the floor. He then meandered over to the corner where the vacuum cleaner stood and proceeded to knock it over, turn it on, and use it to vacuum off some of the dust from his fur coat by rubbing himself on it.

Jess finished filling the dishwasher and started it up. She turned around and watched her brother struggle with the vacuum cleaner for a bit before she moved over and helped him with it, pulling out the hose cleaner.

Just as they turned off the vacuum, a phone started ringing from Andrew's pants lying in the middle of the floor. Confused, the fox trotted over to the clothes pile and transformed into a naked young man again. He fished for his phone with one hand, while the other dusted off the last bits of dust. He pinched his phone between his ear and his shoulder and quickly pulled up his pants.

"John, hey! Are you on your way over?" Andrew said happily into his phone as he bent over and picked up his shirt from the floor. As he rose, however, he slowed, the smile that was on his face slipping away. "...What? Again?"

Jess, who had been putting the vacuum back in the closet, perked up, listening in.

"But it's your birthday, dude. We were gonna drink and play video games all night... Ok, well, if you're not feeling up for it tonight, then tomorrow-- Not tomorrow either? So this weekend then?" Andrew looked around at Jess, and glared at her grin. "I mean, I was cleaning the house for you to come over...... Yeah, I know..." He sighed, " _Yes_ , I'm disappointed, I...... no, I'm not blaming you, I just...... Look... no, no, look, it's fine. You're coming down with something, I get it. You can't control when you get sick... Get some rest. We'll... we'll just have to play it by ear or something. Alright? ...Yeah, happy birthday, buddy. Bye..."

Andrew closed the call, and without even looking at Jess (who had a finger raised in the air as if she was about to speak), he said "Shut up. Shut. All the way. Up. No. _No._ Stop."

"Just check the calendar!" she insisted.

"No," Andrew sneered, his hand over his face, "This is stupid."

"Check it and see! Here, I'll check it!" she started pulling out her phone.

"You're theory is dumb!"

"How is it not obvious to you by now?! You've been seeing him for 8 months now, right?"

"It's stupid, and you're stupid for suggesting it!"

"Okay, look," Jess said, walking over to her still-shirtless brother, "either he has a period--"

"Jessica," Andrew stated flatly, "We've banged before. If he was trans, I think I would have noticed." When she looked skeptical, he added, "I swallowed."

"Ew, TMI," she recoiled.

"You asked," Andrew mumbled, hiding his blushing with the act of putting his shirt on.

"No, actually, I didn't. Moving on..." she tried to shake the image from her mind, "He's consistently had a sick day or two every month. Every, roughly, 29 days or so even. Either he has a period he doesn't want you to know about, or..."

"This is ridiculous, Jess," Andrew stated firmly, his arms folded and his face turned away from her.

Jess turned her head and called into the next room: "Alexa, is it the full moon tonight?"

After a moment, a robotic female voice answered: "The next full moon will be on Thursday, January 12th, 2017 at 11:34 am. It is known as the Wolf Moon.--"

"Goddammit! Not you too!" Andrew spat, moving towards the living room to stare angrily at the smart speaker. Jess, meanwhile, began howling with laughter.

"--'Wolf Moon' is the name given by Native Americans to a full moon that occurs in January. The name was given to this moon because, during this midwinter full moon, wolf packs would howl hungrily outside villages."

Andrew couldn't keep down a smile as his sister nearly fell to the living room floor laughing at the factoid. After several minutes of trying to compose herself, Jess finally managed, "What did she say? The twelfth? That's tomorrow!"

"Jessica, this is ridiculous," Andrew retorted, trying to keep his face angry, "Werewolves do not exist."

Jess cracked up again in laughter, though more controlled now. "I don't understand your insistent denial, Andrew! You literally _just_ turned into a red fox to sweep off the kitchen cabinets! How is turning into a wolf any different?"

"We can transform at will!" Andrew explained irritatedly, "And can't 'infect' other people with our ability! Myths about werewolves say otherwise to both!"

"I bet a werewolf would say the converse about us," Jess mused.

"Please," he snorted, "therianthropy isn't mythical. People have studied our kind. It wouldn't be hard to find information about therianthropy on the web these days."

"The same can be said about many types of genetic disorders," Jess countered, eyebrows raised, "Just because they've been studied and cataloged doesn't mean people just magically _know_ about them. People only really learn about something like this when it becomes relevant, like, say for example... _if your boyfriend was one_." She stared meaningfully at Andrew.

Andrew immediately averted his eyes. "It... hasn't come up in conversation..."

Jess was flabbergasted, "You _still_ haven't told him?! Eight months, Andrew! You've been going out for eight months! And you've _slept_ with him. You _still_ haven't told him...?!"

"Look," Andrew said, examining the ceiling, waving haphazardly, "What if... what if he freaks out when I tell him?! He could think I'm insane and dump me! It's happened before! I... I want to keep this one...! He doesn't need to know..." Andrew folded his arms, his gaze settling on a spot on the skirting board, "It won't hurt him... to not know... It's not like I have any reason to transform in front of him anyway..."

"Andrew," Jess sighed, softening, putting a hand on his shoulder, "You find the tiniest of reasons to transform when you're alone or with me. It's just who you are. If you _actually_ want to keep him... _you're gonna have to tell him eventually_. It's going to kill you if you keep it a secret."

Andrew continued to stare at the spot on the wall, deciding not to respond to her pleas.

Jess pulled her phone out and glanced at it. "I gotta go, my date's here. We can continue this one-sided conversation later." She turned and walked out of the room and down the hallway. Andrew heard the sound of the apartment door slamming shut after her.

Andrew shook his head, shaking away any thought of the conversation. He glanced over at the couple of wrapped presents for John sitting on the couch, where he was supposed to be opening them tonight: a new wallet, and a co-op video game he's been talking about for a while now.

Being sick on your birthday must suck... At least if John could open his presents, it wouldn't suck _as_ much, right? Like when Andrew was sick around his birthday that one year...

Fond memories came trickling back of the rabbit and noodle soup his mom used to make him when he was sick growing up. Well, there's an idea: He could... attempt to make some and deliver it to John at his place, to help him through whatever he had come down with this time...

He pulled out his phone and dialed his parents. Hopefully they were near the phone and not out hunting or something, so he could get the recipe...


	2. Full

Andrew climbed the steel and concrete staircase up another flight of stairs. Man, there were a lot of stairs, especially when lugging a backpack and a shopping bag full of soup up all of them.

The concrete hallway of John's apartment building was open at both ends, with mere banisters separating the hallway from the outside air, so it was rather cold in the January chill. The hallways were well-lit and lined with green doors individually marked with apartment numbers. Several doors still had Christmas decorations adorning them.

Andrew stopped at the top of the stairs and tried to remember exactly which way it was to John's apartment. He knew it was the last door on the right, but the stairs were in the middle, and thus it could be either end of this hallway... if only he hadn't been half-drunk and horny last time he passed through here...

He picked a direction and headed down the hallway. Worst comes to worst, he knocks on the wrong door, interrupts someone's evening, and has to try the other side.

The last door on the right had no Christmas decorations, nor any indicator of who might be living here. Andrew shifted the shopping bag full of soup to his other hand and knocked on the door.

He glanced around a bit, and eventually set the bag of soup down so he could warm his hands. No one answered. He glanced up the hallway, and down over the railing to the courtyard below, but no one else was around. Andrew knocked again. After several more minutes, still no one answered.

"He might not be there," came an old crackly voice from behind Andrew, making him jump. He spun on the spot and saw an old lady poking her head out of her door.

"I-I'm sorry?" Andrew muttered, in alarmed confusion.

"You're looking for Johnny, right?" the old lady smiled, gesturing with her walking cane to the door behind Andrew.

"Uh, yeah? Probably?" Andrew replied shyly.

The old lady adjusted her glasses. "Oh, you're that young man he brought home a few months ago, aren't you? Yes, I remember I'd never seen hair that red before. Good to see you two still together. He needs a nice young man to settle down with, I think."

Andrew didn't know what to say. Was she... always watching his doorway? Did she not have anything better to do?

Apparently reading his expression like a book, the old lady laughed, "Oh, don't worry, I'm not snooping or anything. It's this doohickey my grandson got for me last year." She lifted her cane and banged it on the door near the eye hole. "What'd he call it? A Doorbell Ring or something? I can't remember. Whenever there's any movement out here, it shows it on my TV in a little picture, so I can see who's at the door."

"I see..." Andrew sighed, still wary.

"I've known Johnny for a while. He's such a nice young man. Did you know he started a moon-watching club for some shelter kids? He says he goes to see them every full moon so they can study the moon through some telescopes and draw pictures of it. That's why I said he might not be there tonight because it's a full moon tonight and he might be across the state line looking at the moon with those kids."

"Ah," Andrew said, walking towards the lady now, "Well... I don't know if he's doing that this month, because he told me he was sick tonight."

"Oh, is he? Oh, that's such a shame. I hope those kids have some other people to help them look at the moon with."

"Yeah, well," he lowered his voice, "It's also his birthday, so I made him some soup and I was gonna surprise him with it."

"Oh, soup is such a good idea!" she said, her eyes widening and her hand finding his face to pat, "What kind of soup is it?"

"Ah, it's, uh, chicken-noodle soup," Andrew lied, "like my mom used to make for me when I was sick."

"That's so thoughtful of you. You're a sweet boy. I hope it works out for you two," she patted his cheek again in delight.

"Uh, thanks?"

"I used to make my husband good hearty soups all the time, and he always loved them, God rest his soul."

"Right, well..." Andrew started, trying to figure out a path to a clean exit, "If he's not here..."

"Oh, well, actually, uh, heh," she winked and beckoned him closer, "If this is a nice birthday surprise, Johnny did give me a spare key, just in case."

"Really?" Andrew said, unsure of this development.

The old lady started waddling inside her apartment, "Yes, I'm not supposed to use it, except in emergencies. But being sick and lacking in food sounds like an emergency enough for right now, and you look like a good boy and not an axe murderer or anything, and he's brought you into his apartment before, so clearly he must like you enough..." she finally reached a cupboard out of which she pulled some keys from a cup, nattering on as she did so, "...and if there's anything I pride myself on, I'm an excellent judge of character. I always thought that Nixon fellow was no good, but the country elected him anyway, right? Well, shows the country what's up, right? And then Carter... Oh, I met him once you know, before he became president, when I was living back in Georgia, well anyway..." she handed Andrew the key. "Now, you just pop in there and see how he's doing, and if there's anything wrong, you just come to me, alright? But if he's not home, I think you should just leave the soup in the fridge for him, yes? Now the doors auto-lock, so prop it open with your bag and hand me back the key, okay, just so I have it and so I don't lose it..."

Andrew found himself nodding silently to her ramblings as he was handed the key. He quickly opened the opposing door a crack, propping it ajar with the bag of soup, and handed the keys back to the old lady.

She patted him on the head gently as she took the keys back and bid him luck on all the endeavors and also to stay away from strangers because she heard things on the news about bad things happening to nice young gay men like him and all that, and... _eventually_ she closed her apartment door.

Once he was alone in the hallway again, Andrew peaked inside his boyfriend's apartment. The lights were off. He pushed in and closed the door quietly.

Immediately something was off: there was a musky smell in the apartment he couldn't quite pinpoint. He resisted the urge to transform into a fox, where his senses would be sharper and he might be able to identify it. No sense in alarming John, if he did happen to be here.

And he knew someone was definitely home, because he could hear the TV down the hallway. It sounded like some fast-talking TV show, possibly a sitcom, he wasn't sure. He also heard something that sounded like it could have been laughing, but it didn't sound like John's laugh.

Andrew picked up the bag of soup containers and set it on the counter in the kitchenette. He dropped his backpack, containing his things and John's presents, and crept quietly down the hallway towards the bedroom. There was a distinct glow of a TV emanating from the bedroom door, splashing across the hallway walls, intermittently lighting up the dark floor. Someone on the TV made a joke, and a very... animalistic laugh(?!) carried out from the bedroom.

"....John?" Andrew asked, his voice shaking with trepidation, as he approached the bedroom door. The laughing cut off abruptly, and Andrew pushed the door open.

On the bed was a wolf, a _large_ wolf, nearly the size of an adult human. It had a big mane of black and grey fur, a long snout, and a large bushy tail. It was lying on the lower half of John's king-sized bed, curled up with its tail near its nose. It was positioned in such a way where it was clear it had been watching TV, that is until Andrew made himself known; now its head was up, its ears perked, and it was staring at Andrew in the doorway to the bedroom.

For a very long couple of seconds, Andrew stood stock still in the doorway, his arms up defensively, while the wolf looked up at him, its body tense and its head raised. "Really?" someone on the TV joked, "You brought it _into_ the house?" There was a pause for presumed laughter.

"John?" Andrew asked, though he instinctively knew the answer.

The wolf jumped to its feet suddenly, growling menacingly at Andrew, hunched, its ears flat and baring teeth. It looked like it might pounce.

"Wait!" Andrew shouted, "No, I--"

The wolf growled more, not quite a bark, but clearly angry.

It was almost instinct, and he couldn't stop himself once his body reacted. He was suddenly on all fours, two feet high, and also on his haunches and scared of retaliation. He tripped haphazardly over the human clothes that entangled him as he attempted to dive away down the hallway. His tail wasn't even clear of the doorway when the growling stopped abruptly.

Andrew stumbled behind a kitchen barstool to put something between him and the angry wolf. He could definitely pinpoint the musk now, the musk of the wolf's territory, coming from the bathroom at the end of the hall. And he could feel out better the atmosphere the wolf was giving off... and how it was scared and alarmed... and now confused...

A whimper came from the bedroom, a whimper that seemed to be calling him back in? Andrew, ears and tail tucked back, gingerly slinked out from behind the barstool and back to the bedroom doorway. Andrew peeked around the doorframe to see the wolf still on the bed, its head tilted in confusion. Andrew stepped properly into the doorframe, standing on the pile of his human clothing.

The two canines surveyed each other. After a moment, the wolf's head lowered towards its paws, its hindquarters in the air, seemingly inviting Andrew up.

Andrew gingerly stepped forward into the room. He reared up on his hind legs, his front paws on the bedspread, to survey the bed and its occupant. The wolf still beckoned, in a not-unfriendly manner, so he hopped up on the bed.

He sniffed around at the animal twice his size, which sniffed him back. This was definitely John in wolf form: the animal smelled like the smell of John's hair and neck, the smell that brought him back to the time they first slept together. Andrew nuzzled up to Wolf-John, moving from his head down along his neck, feeling the heavy fur coat with his own. John seemed amazed and confused.

After a minute or so of sizing each other up like this, Andrew stepped back and indicated that John should lay back down. John eyed him, but circled on the bed and laid down facing the TV. Andrew responded by stepping into the circle made by the wolf's massive form and laying down against his tummy, rubbing his snout up against John's face. John snorted, shaking his face off in a playful way, and then reached over with a paw to the TV remote lying close by. With an expert paw-touch, the TV show rewound a few minutes, and begin playing again.

John laid his snout down on Andrew's head and rubbed lovingly. And the two of them finished watching the show together.

* * *

"You said you were sick, so I brought some rabbit-noodle soup over," Andrew said, standing naked in John's kitchenette, talking to a two-hundred-pound wolf, "My mom always made it for me when I was sick, so I figured you might like it too. I guess I should just put it away, since you probably can't eat it like this."

His wolfish boyfriend made a whimpering noise.

Andrew laughed, "What, you wanna try it?"

John panted happily.

"Okay," Andrew laughed again, "Do you have a doggie bowl or something? Or should I just use a regular bowl?"

The wolf trotted over to the countertop and perched his forepaws on it, pointing with his snout at a cupboard. They negotiated with gestures and pointing about the specific bowls to use: apparently John had previously broken some ceramic ones in this state, and so asked for a thick plastic one.

Andrew poured some of his homemade soup into the bowl and put it on the floor. The wolf snuggled and licked his face in thanks, and Andrew took the opportunity to give him some petting and hugs in return. Then John tried to lap some of the soup up and eat some of the chunks of rabbits and noodles. He mostly just succeeded in getting soup all over the floor.

John pouted at Andrew, and Andrew stroked his ear, saying "Hey, I never said I ate it in my fox form. I guess we'll just save it until you're better again? When will that be?"

John moved away and indicated Andrew should follow. He led Andrew to the bedroom, where his phone was lying, plugged in, on the upper half of the bed, positioned in such a way where the wolf could easily access it. John jumped up on the bed and positioned himself in front of the phone. With a paw, he expertly punched in the code to unlock the screen and opened the calendar app. John indicated the phone screen, and Andrew saw that the full moon was marked out on his calendar. Apparently, John anticipated his transformation was to last roughly 16 hours on either side of the time he marked as the "full moon".

"You stay transformed for a day and a half?" Andrew asked, surprised.

John nodded.

"What do you do for all that time?"

John indicated the TV. Then rolled on his side and feigned sleeping.

"Just sleep it off and watch TV?"

John panted happily.

Andrew scratched his head. "This is just insane-- wait, hang on, you've talked to me before during a sick day. Did we never actually speak to each other?"

John seemed to giggle as he went to the phone again and went to the texting app. With a practiced paw, he slowly typed out a text message to Andrew and sent it. "I can still type. Just slower."

"Good lord..." Andrew said, amazed, "how long have you been doing this?"

John got serious as he contemplated. Then typed into his phone, "Three years? Tell you after."

"Right, sure... I guess I'll have to come back tomorrow evening..." Andrew stroked John's head and scratched his ear, which John seemed to like very much. "Do you want me to keep you company? I do have work tomorrow morning, but maybe overnight?"

John turned to his phone once more: "Up to you." John then indicated with his snout the TV remote, likely pointing out that he has shows he can watch still.

Andrew smiled, but then clarified, "It's still your birthday, buddy. What do _you_ want? I'm up for anything."

John looked around, considering. He momentarily got a mischievous look in his eyes and panted at Andrew. But then, he suddenly clammed up, and began pouting.

Andrew was confused. "What? What's wrong?"

John turned away and curled up facing away from Andrew, his ears drooping.

"Hey, if you don't wanna do anything, we don't have to," Andrew said, climbing over to him on the bed, "Let me at least give you some belly rubs or something."

Andrew started stroking John's head and ears. The oversized wolf eventually turned over and let Andrew get at his underside. And soon belly rubs were John's new favorite thing.


	3. Waning

It wasn't until Friday morning, while Andrew was working a shift at Starbucks, that Andrew got a text from John saying "Back to normal".

Andrew glanced to make sure the boss wasn't looking and tapped out a reply, "So does that mean you can now tell me more?"

"Not until I get off work. I only took two days off. I'll drop by your place after work?"

Andrew considered (preparing an order or two while he did so) before answering, "Yeah, might as well get the 'I told you so's' out of the way all at once"

"What?"

"You'll see. G2g"

* * *

That evening, Jess was lounging on the sofa in her sweats, scrolling through Twitter, when the doorbell rang. Andrew ran to get the door and greeted John with an elongated kiss.

Jess sat up as the couple returned to the living room. "So," she said by way of greeting, "I was told I was right, but wasn't given specifics about what yet."

John looked concerned. "Andrew, I thought we were gonna be alone."

"Uhh... John," Andrew introduced, "This is my sister, Jess. She can transform just like I can."

"Oh..." John said, looking a little alarmed.

"Uh, don't worry, I won't," Jess said, getting up to shake his hand. She turned to Andrew, "So I take it this means you did end up telling him all about therianthropy? And that he didn't run screaming from the room? Is that what I was right about?"

John looked to Andrew, who was scratching the back of his neck and cringing. "Uh... kind of...?" Both of them were looking at him in concern now. "It turns out that... he _is_ a werewolf."

"Andrew!!" John gasped, looking alarmed and hurt, "What the hell?!"

But Jess's face was slowly lighting up in realization, "Yes! YES! I KNEW IT!!" She came forward and hugged John tight around the midsection, which seemed to throw John completely off-guard.

When she let go, John stood there in shock. "Okay, that's... not the reaction I was expecting at all... After getting fucking _outed!_ " He turned to fume at his boyfriend, "What the fuck, dude?!"

"Relax," Jess smiled, "you're among friends. And I won't tell anyone. But yes," she turned and smacked Andrew on the chest, " _he_ should have been the one to tell me!"

"Hey, no hitting! I'm sorry!" Andrew said, backing away, "I figured I'd start by telling _him_ that you can transform too!"

"He doesn't know what that entails!" Jess said angrily, before turning a kind face to John, "Let's sit down, and we can talk, okay? Do you want something to drink?"

A few minutes later, John and Andrew were sitting on the couch (with Andrew holding John's arm and resting his head against his shoulder), and Jess was seated in the armchair facing them.

"So," Jess began, "Andrew and I came from a family of therianthropic foxes. Our whole family can live either as foxes or humans. Or, in Andrew's case, whenever the whim strikes him."

"Y-Your _whole family_ can transform?!" John repeated, stunned.

"Yep. Our parents are both foxes, but our uncles and aunt have married non-transforming people."

"Except Uncle Terry," Andrew corrected, "He got divorced when his wife found out, remember?"

Jess gave him an annoyed look, "I wasn't going to go into _detail_..."

"When their second son, Patrick," Andrew continued to John, ignoring his sister, "turned out to be therianthropic as well, his wife had a fit! She practically threw the kid out into the snow!"

"Andrew, stop!!" Jess snapped, "Look! Now you've made him uncomfortable! And stop hanging on his arm! What, did you develop a mink side to you as well?? Give the guy room to breathe!"

"Alright, _mother_ ," Andrew sneered as he slid away from John. Jess sneered back in kind, like they were still children.

John rubbed his arm awkwardly, "Uh, to be fair, this whole situation is a bit... uncomfortable for me already."

"Why?" Jess asked softly, "What's on your mind?"

John wrung his hands. He seemed hesitant to ask a question.

"I promise we won't be offended," she reassured him, smiling.

John still looked beyond awkward. "I-Is... Is it contagious?"

Andrew looked offended; Jess simply looked confused. "Therianthropy? No, it's a genetic thing." she clarified, "You can't 'catch' being therianthropic. Why do you ask?"

John wrung his hands still further, looking at the carpet. "...Well, uh, werewolf-ism is... contagious... T-That's kind of its whole thing..."

"Ah, of course," Jess said in realization.

"It's blood-borne..." John licked his lips, "And also an STD... T-That's actually how I got it... one of the assholes I hooked up with on Grindr was a werewolf and didn't say so... I didn't know until I had transformed... the dickhead didn't even apologize when I confronted him about it..."

Jess was looking at Andrew in concern. Andrew still looked slightly offended at John's question. "So," Jess asked of John, keeping her eyes on her brother, "you're concerned you might be passing it to Andrew then?"

"What?" Andrew looked up at the mention of his name. He took a moment to replay the conversation in his mind. "Oh, right, we had sex that one time, a couple months ago. I haven't transformed into a wolf or anything because of it."

"Yeah, but..." John said, staring at Andrew, "I made sure to use lots of protection then."

"Right..." Andrew mumbled, averting his eyes and biting his lip. He attempted to exchange glances with Jess, but she had pulled out her phone and was diving deep into it.

Meanwhile, John looked like he was a repentant sinner confessing his sins. He grabbed Andrew's hands in his and faced him, head low. "When you asked me what I wanted to do on my birthday... I... It was the first time I had ever even seen a... whatever you are--"

"--a Therianthrope--" Jess offered without looking up from her phone.

"That thing," John pointed at her offhandedly, "When... when you offered me anything I wanted... There... there was a possibility I wanted to explore with you that night... uh..."

Andrew's eyes darted back and forth between each of his, trying to read his meaning, "...what? What possibility?"

"...you know... I'd never even seen anyone else while I was a werewolf before... never touched anyone else... I wanted to... you know..."

Andrew's brow pinched in frustration, "Wanted to what? Just say it."

John was at a loss. Jess, meanwhile, had paused in her googling to grin mischievously at them. "Andrew, he wanted to 'do it doggy style'." John flushed red and hung his head.

"Oh..." Andrew said, blushing a little himself. "I'd... never even done it... while transformed... before..."

John couldn't help but laugh, his face still beet-red, "Neither have I, obviously... which is why I wanted to try it, since you were... offering _anything_... but, you know..." John sighed and looked at Andrew again, "Wolves can't exactly put on condoms and take prep, so..."

Andrew blushed, "Well... as much as that'd be... awesome to try... we can just avoid it. It's not like it'd be hard to do..."

At that moment, Jess paused midway through typing a new search into her phone to stare at the middle-distance, remembering something. "Andrew.... didn't you tell me you... 'swallowed'? Were you lying to me?"

John looked at her, confused. "What...?"

Andrew's face, meanwhile, turned a delectate shade of off-white, "Wh-What are you talking about...?

Jess sat upright, putting down her phone, and pointing offhandedly at the kitchen door. "We were arguing about whether John was trans or a werewolf--"

John blinked in bewilderment, "If I was trans--?"

"--and you said he definitely wasn't trans because... and I quote... _you 'swallowed'_ "

Andrew's eyes closed. "Shit."

"You _WHAT?!_ " John gasped, turning on his boyfriend. "Are you talking about when you asked me to finish in your mouth and I didn't want to, so we compromised?!"

Jess was recoiling at the thought, "ew ew ew ew, I don't wanna know what that compromise was..."

"Look, I..." Andrew grabbed fistfuls of his own hair, hiding his face with his arms, "I... was wiping some of it off and... I happened to taste some..."

"ew ew ew ew ew!"

"That could have infected you, Andrew!!" John yelled, "I was trying to protect you by using a condom and you just _lapped it up anyway?!_ "

" _Ew Ew Ew Ew Ew! Please_ don't use that word--"

"What is wrong with you?!" John continued, irate, "I'm a menace to society! I'm trying to protect you _from me_ , and you're here trying to get around my every effort! I told you I didn't want company when I was transformed and you _invited yourself in_ anyway--!"

"No! No! Stop!" Andrew cut him off, matching volume, "You don't get to pull the high ground on this one! You didn't tell me _jack fucking shit_ about your condition! You said you were ' _sick_ ', NOT that you _got furry!_ You told your neighbor some bullshit story about charity kids across state lines--"

"What am I supposed to tell her?!" John countered, "That I regularly become _not human_ every 29 days?! What do you think I tell my workplace?! You think they wouldn't get suspicious that I regularly fall ill every month?! I had to come up with something!!"

"Oh, so, when was _that lie_ gonna come up to _me_ , huh? When were you gonna tell me you _pretend_ to do charity work?!"

"I wasn't _gonna_ tell you that because then you were gonna want to _invite yourself along!_ "

"Yeah, and I was considering asking about that too when she told me! Because if we're actually boyfriends, we do stuff together, we tell each other shit, and we more than _occasionally_ fuck!"

"Look, look..." John said, his voice coming down, "I... I was gonna tell you about... _this shit_ at some point. Every guy I've dated, if it gets to six months, that's _usually_ when I make the decision to cut it off before I have to tell them that I'm... infected..." John was breathing heavily now, trying to keep back tears, "But... But the one time I did tell someone, he... he thought I was some weirdo who got way too into Twilight or Teen Wolf or _whatever furry fandom_ and... and he just... up and ghosted me... just... just gone..." Now John was definitely crying, "And... And so I was avoiding telling you... because, I... _didn't_ want that to happen with you... I wanted to keep what we had... it was going so good... and... I've gone and fucked it up anyway now..."

John sniffed and tried to catch his breath. His head slipped into his hands, and he stared at the floor between his knees, trying to stop crying. Andrew was at a loss. The room was silent, save for John's sniffles, for several moments.

"Doesn't that sounds familiar, Andy?" Jess said quietly, cutting the silence. She sat looking at them, her phone in her hand tilted off to the side in a sassy pose.

Andrew glared at Jess; John looked over in confusion.

"I honestly don't understand what it is with men and not being able to communicate," she said, shaking her head in disbelief, "Andrew was telling me exactly the same thing the other day, John. Right down to losing someone over telling them about turning into an animal." She sighed, "You two are made for each other..." And then she added, with an abrupt change of tone and returning to her phone, "Quite possibly literally, as it turns out."

"What do you mean?" Andrew asked as John wiped his eyes.

"There's been a study or two done about werewolves and their relationships with other people. One of the things they found suggests that therianthropes are basically immune to contracting lycanthropy, on account of having an animal form already as part of your biology." She tilted the phone away and looked at the guys, "And given that Andrew has possibly been 'infected' for a few months now on account of his stupidity, and has yet to turn into a wolf, you guys might be in the clear."

Andrew laughed giddily and involuntarily at the news. John just sighed, grabbed Andrew's hand, and squeezed it.

Jess continued to scan the article, and added as an aside, "Oh, one of the other findings was, in nearly every case, the affected people could no longer have children. Apparently the transformations caused lots of complications and miscarriages..." she cringed as she continued to read. "Evidently babies can be infected as well, and might cause problems for surrogate mothers. John, I advise against ever donating sperm."

Andrew and John looked at each other. They weren't even at a stage where they would talk about having kids...

"Andrew," Jess continued, not even looking up, "you should get tested too. Even if you yourself don't suffer the effects, you could still be a carrier..."

"Wait, wait, there's a test?" John asked in surprise.

"Oh yeah," she replied conversationally, scrolling through results on her phone, "And some treatments too, to cut down on transformation time, duration of transformation, penchant for violence..."

Andrew looked confused, "But John wasn't violent when he was transformed..."

"Oh, um..." Jess skimmed a webpage, "...apparently werewolfism tends to amplify any anger management issues. It also affects people differently: Some people can just get fast-growing body hair during the full moon... some develop a penchant for raw meat..."

"That's mine," John chuckled, touching Andrew to direct this comment at him, "I like my steaks very rare."

Jess's eyes were flying across the screen as she scrolled, "Yeah, looks like there's a lot of random anecdotes about variations and treatments in this thread in the lycanthropy support subreddit."

John looked dumbstruck, "Wait, there's a lycanthropy support subreddit?!"

Jess looked at him in confused surprise, "How long have you been a werewolf?! Are you telling me you _never_ looked for resources to help you?! This thread about treatments is four years old. Oh, and they've got a stickied thread about 'howling meetups'," she skimmed that thread too, "Apparently there are small groups who meet up in nearby parks and forests to howl at the moon during transformation nights." She looked up with a grin on her face, "It looks like there's one just across the state border. Maybe you should drag him along and see what a fox howl sounds like."

"Oh, very funny," Andrew smirked, "You don't want to hear what a fox howl-- John? Are you okay?"

John was crying again. "I... I think this might be the best birthday present I've ever gotten..."

Andrew looked mildly alarmed. "But, I haven't given you anything else today..."

John laughed through his tears and turned to Andrew, "What are you talking about? You've given me a support structure. I never knew all this stuff was out there, and now I've got you two and..."

Jess raised her eyebrows, "You _seriously_ never looked for help?"

"No!" John said, turning to her, "I thought I had to deal with this alone. My parents don't even know about it...! How could I tell them after their lecture about how being gay will give me STDs? Not to mention the metaphysical shit..."

"You dummy..." Andrew smiled, pulling him in for a hug, "You don't ever have to be alone. You just have to look..." He waved Jess over for a group hug, and John broke down into tears again.


	4. New

"You know, babe, it's fine if you just let yourself transform."

Andrew's blue sedan wound its way down the twisting dirt road. The thick forest around them caused the August dusk to settle in faster than anticipated, so the road was getting harder to see. Andrew was at the wheel, peering out at the road illuminated by his high beams, while John was in the passenger seat, holding his head in agony.

"No, I..." John said through the headache, "I don't wanna leave you just hanging... when we get there..."

"It's fine, I can handle it," Andrew insisted, "My job is literally customer service. I know how to deal with stuff like this."

John grunted, just barely registering what he said through the pain. "Damn, I wish these meds worked better."

"I'm serious," Andrew berated, "You've never gone this close to peak without transforming. You've only been on the meds for a few months now, you need to stop pushing yourself like this. Take it slow."

The pain ebbed a bit. "I'll be okay," John said.

"I swear, if you hurt yourself doing this shit..."

"There," John pointed, "Turn there, that looks like it's it."

Andrew slowed down and turned the car into a forest clearing, where a few other cars were parked off to the side in the grass. A man in a long maroon robe (with a sturgeon prominently displayed on breast pocket) approached them as they pulled in. He looked like he was in his forties. He used a flashlight to direct them to a parking spot.

"Name, please?" he said as they got out of the car. He searched for their names on his clipboard. "Ah, yes, good, you two should be the last ones. I take it you're John then?"

John nodded, his hand to his temple another wave of pain shot through.

"Oh dear, if you're in that much pain, by all means, transform," the man said, "I can get your details from your... partner?"

"Uh, yeah..." Andrew said, coming around the car, "Boyfriend. I also should be down as a helper?"

The man lifted a page and scanned his clipboard further. "Oh, you're the fox, excellent! We could use the extra paw tonight. We've got a few new cubs here, your partner included, and it very much helps when someone can just turn human and speak English to them as needed, since they--"

He was distracted suddenly by John doubling over and becoming a wolf, his clothes tearing off him as he transformed. John gasped and toppled sideways from the effort. Andrew and the robed man bent down to make sure he was alright.

"I told you you could have transformed in the car!" Andrew scolded as John got up and shook himself off, "Now your clothes for the trip back are ruined..." Andrew began picking up the pieces and tossing them into the car.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," the man said, helping Andrew gather the torn pieces of cloth, "The entry fee covers taking the themed post-transformation robes home with you. It's common for cubs to tear clothing the first transformation or two. It can sneak up on you."

Andrew sighed, "He's not a cub, though. He's been infected for three and a half years now. He only just recently discovered the treatments and meds." John snapped his teeth angrily at Andrew, and growled his disapproval.

"It's fine," the man chuckled, shuffling some of his things around in his hands, "he's still considered a cub. We have a fifty-two-year-old woman here tonight who's a 'cub' as well. Twenty-three years without treatment, can you believe it?" He turned to John, holding a strap in each hand, "Which do you prefer for your name tag? Collar or anklet? The collar's gonna stay on better in your form, but some don't like how 'dehumanizing' it is."

John looked to Andrew, who shrugged. John chose the collar. The man bent down and put it on him. A plastic disk with John's name on it hung from the collar.

Andrew cooed, "Aw, he looks like an adorable puppy now!" John growled.

The man stood up, looking stern. "I'll ask you to keep that tone put away while you're helping, sir. The people here are not animals, they just look like it tonight."

"Right, sorry," Andrew apologized, giving a side-eye to a smug-looking John.

"So: rules," the man said, clapping his hands together in a prayer gesture, "There's a strict no fornication policy in place while on the premises." He took a moment to point his hands between them, making sure both of them heard, "I will be your pack leader tonight. There's a hunt going on right now for those who are of that disposition. Hunting after we begin the evening's events is strictly forbidden, lest we harm any therianthropes. Please stay within the territory marked out for us; we don't want to intrude on native wolf territory and cause problems. We've got several acres of woodland, it shouldn't be hard. The howling will happen at 1 am, when the moon is highest (DST and all that), and, um... have fun!"

"Thanks," Andrew smiled, as John panted.

"Oh, and for you," the man said to Andrew, "You'll want to grab a red helper transformation robe from the RV over there. We've got a pack of 32 tonight, with six helpers. There's you, an Elk man, and a Timber Wolf woman who will be running with the pack tonight. There's also a Bunn-- sorry, Rabbit lady, who's going to be holding down the fort here with our two other volunteers." He lowered his voice conspiratorially, "Uh, just so you know, the cisform mother in there is going to be asking you to keep a close eye on her teenage son. She's already asked that of the rest of the staff _individually_ , since she can't go running with the pack, obviously. Don't worry too much about it, he's a good kid, no trouble in the several months he's attended, she just doesn't seem to trust him."

"Uh, noted," Andrew replied.

"And, uh... that's it!" the man looked up and rolled his shoulders, "And, since you two are the last ones, could I ask you to bring these--" he hands Andrew his clipboard and flashlight, "--and my robe to the RV? I've been holding out long enough tonight."

"Oh, uh, sure," Andrew said, taking the proffered items.

They watched the man, with practiced movements, pull his arms in through his robe sleeves, double over, and become a silver wolf in an instant, his maroon robe coming undone and sliding gracefully off his back. He shook out his fur and yawned wide. He then picked up the robe in his maw and handed it off to Andrew, who threw it over his arm. The silver wolf beckoned with a tilt of the head and a low noise and lead them over to the center of the clearing, where a bunch of other wolves were roughhousing happily.

* * *

The sun peeked through the trees and hit the back window of the blue car. The beam of sunlight lit up the car with a bright midmorning glow, and hit John in the face. John cringed away from the light, covering his face with his hands and arms. He rolled over on the backseat bench, the plastic of the collar and name tag around his neck tinkling. As he repositioned, seatbelt receivers stuck hard into his butt and shoulders. He realized now that he was once again human and consequently naked, having fallen asleep as a wolf.

Groggily, he opened one eye and saw the backs of the front seats of the sedan. He glanced down at the floor below him, where a red fox was curled up and sleeping soundly. He reached a hand down and began stroking the back of his fingers gently down the fox's fur coat. The fox's ear twitched in response. John's fingers ran a second time down the fox's side. The fox, still mostly asleep, rolled in such a way to expose his belly, at which point John began stroking the white underbelly fur gently, his eyes half-closed.

Eventually the fox opened an eye and peered at John, who smiled sleepily back. The fox then got up, stretched and yawned widely, and gingerly hopped up onto John's chest, John rolling over onto his back to receive him. In another moment, Andrew's lithe and naked human body laid on top of John's, the two of them smiling sleepily at one another.

"Hi," Andrew said quietly, before giving John a morning kiss.

John's hand stroked through Andrew's bangs, pushing his hair back. "I never realized how much your hair matches your fur coat."

"You say that every time I transform," Andrew chuckled.

"I'm serious. Last time, I noticed the white patch on the nape of your neck. This time I noticed the same just above your ears."

Andrew chuckled again and kissed him once more. Andrew rested his chin on John's clavicle, and started playing absentmindedly with the loose name tag collar around his neck. "So... what'd you think of last night?"

John sighed, stroking down Andrew's neck and back. "I wish we could have kids..."

Andrew snorted down a laugh, "What?"

"I dunno, I got roped into playing a bit of a cat and mouse game with the young'uns shortly after the howling, I guess trying to tucker them out for bed. And..." John sighed again, "You know... it got me thinking about when you were playing with your cousin Patrick back in June, and... it'd just be... nice..."

Andrew had frozen, his eyes staring off at some random point on the back of the driver's seat. "Kids, huh?"

John strained back to look at Andrew's face. "You don't want kids?"

"Uh, no, it's not that, it's just..." Andrew sighed, "I hadn't really given it much thought since my test came back positive... It basically dashed any hopes of my continuing the fox line..."

"Yeah..." John sighed heavily, looking to the sky out the back window.

"It's not your fault, babe, it's mine," Andrew said, planting a kiss on John's jaw. "I basically traded those dreams for more freedom with you."

John scowled. "Was it worth it, though?"

"Yes," Andrew said firmly, "Stop selling yourself short. You're worth it."

John looked away, ever unconvinced.

Andrew pulled his chin back towards him, "Hey, listen to me... we can always try and adopt."

John grunted curtly.

"I know it's not the same but... Just think about how we'd be helping someone out. Like, remember that thread on the sub the other day?" Andrew said, referring to the werewolf support subreddit they visited regularly, "That kid who was kicked out by his family for getting bit? Something that _absolutely_ was not his fault?"

"Yeah," John smiled as he remembered, "...all the commenters offering help and suggestions... that one guy who happened to live nearby offering him a bed..."

"You never know..." Andrew said, now playing with John's earlobe, "Remember the regular there who posted the adoption contact information? Or the thread Jess was showing us about therianthropic foster homes? There are plenty of kids out there in need of a loving home."

"Yeah..." John sighed, his hand tracing distracted circles on Andrew's love handle.

"And hey, until we're ready for that, we can invite Patrick over more. Ever since the divorce, my uncle's been taking every chance he can get to drop the little guy on other family members, just so he can get some time to himself."

John chuckled. "He is a handful..."

"I'm sure Patrick would be _fascinated_ by your wolf form."

The conversation trailed off. They laid there for several more minutes, Andrew's head nestled into John's neck, their legs intertwined, their fingers exploring each other's hands and bodies. Outside the car, they heard the campsite bustle with people laughing and wolves howling.

John grunted, "We should get up. Strict anti-fornication policy, remember?"

Andrew laughed, "Is this considered fornicating?"

"You can't fool me," John grinned, "I can feel you getting hard."

"Heh, point taken." Andrew got up on his hands and knees. "I'll transform back outside, so you have room to put on your robe in here."

With a nod from John, the red fox appeared again and pawed at the door handle to hop out. Outside, there were people in the process of de-transforming still, and everyone saying their goodbyes. The Sturgeon Moon was waning; it was time to go home, back to their everyday lives.


End file.
